This past week in regulation was a relatively lively one. There were 10 rulemakings that contained some kind of measurable economic impact, with the Department of Transportation (DOT) standing out the most. Two rules from DOT concerning the transportation of fuels across different modes of transit brought estimated cost reductions in the billions of dollars. Federal agencies published roughly $5.9 billion in total cost savings and cut 80,887 paperwork burden hours.

REGULATORY TOPLINES

• Proposed Rules This Week: 25
• Final Rules This Week: 72
• 2026 Total Pages: 2,277
• 2026 Final Rule Costs: -$8.3 billion
• 2026 Proposed Rule Costs: $5.3 billion

NOTABLE REGULATORY ACTIONS

The most consequential rulemaking of the week was the DOT rule regarding “Pipeline Safety: Class Location Change Requirements.” The agency notes that it is “updating its regulations to allow operators to apply modern risk management principles in addressing the safety of gas pipelines affected by class location changes.” The main regulatory provisions currently on the books were first developed in 1955, with minor updates over ensuing decades. This particular update institutes “an integrity-management-based alternative” as a standing option for affected entities that previously required a special permit. DOT estimates that this change will yield $461 million in annual cost savings (or nearly $4.9 billion in total net present value).

The other substantial DOT rule of the week focused on “Hazardous Materials: Eliminating Unnecessary Regulatory Burdens on Fuel Transportation.” The rule represents the finalized version of a rulemaking originally proposed under the Biden Administration. Per the agency:

The amendments adopted in this final rule provide substantial cost savings by reducing unnecessary burdens on the transportation of petroleum distillate fuels, such as gasoline and diesel fuel, by motor carriers. This final rule also provides cost savings to the hazardous materials packaging industry by removing an unnecessary training requirement and adopting measures allowing the use of technologies that introduce efficiencies for cargo tank tests and inspections.

DOT estimates that the aforementioned changes will yield $145.3 million in annualized savings (or roughly $1 billion in net present value).

TRACKING TRUMP 2.0

This past week was clearly significant in terms of the administration implementing Executive Order (EO) 14192. In assessing 2026 rulemakings that include an EO 14192 determination (including the handful of rules published January 2), there have been nine “deregulatory” rules with combined total savings of $8.3 billion. Adding that to the total that agencies produced during 2025 (at least from rules that had a clear “regulatory” or “deregulatory” designation), the Trump Administration has enacted $148.3 billion in total cost reductions thus far under the auspices of EO 14192.

CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW ACT (CRA)

The American Action Forum CRA tracker provides a full survey of activity under the law thus far into this term. As of today, members of the 119th Congress have introduced CRA resolutions of disapproval addressing 70 rulemakings across the Biden and Trump Administrations that collectively involve $138 billion in estimated compliance costs. Of these, 22 have been passed into law, repealing a series of Biden Administration rules that had a combined $3 billion in associated compliance costs. The Trump Administration estimates that the repeal of this rule yields an additional $936 million in savings. While the main window of CRA action has largely passed, there are still outstanding resolutions that could move legislatively. AAF will continue to monitor and update such developments as appropriate.

TOTAL BURDENS

Since the start of 2026, the federal government has published $3 billion in total regulatory net cost savings (with $8.3 billion in reductions from finalized rules) and 2.1 million hours of net annual paperwork increases (with 25,231 hours coming from final rules).